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Biomedical emerging technologies
Artificial uterus - a theoretical device that would allow for extracorporeal pregnancy or extrauterine fetal incubation''' (EUFI)1 by growing an embryo or fetus outside of the body of a''' female organism that would normally internally carry the embryo or fetus to term. This can lead to switch from a natural uterus to an artificial one, for all babies. Hence, no biological need for a husband or a wife (listen to the song "In the year 2525"!) Body implants - a medical device manufactured to replace a missing biological structure Transplant - moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site to another location on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ Prosthesis - an artificial device that replaces a missing body part lost through trauma. Organ printing - a field that applies the principles of engineering and life sciences toward the development of biological substitutes that restore, maintain, or improve tissue function or a whole organ. Picture: a heart valve produced in this way. Genetic engineering - the direct manipulation of an organism's genome using biotechnology. Hibernation or suspended animation - the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. This can be used for example for space travel or as a surgical technique. Life extension - the study of slowing down or reversing the processes of aging to extend both the maximum and average lifespan Regenerative medicine - the promise of regenerating damaged tissues and organs in the body by replacing damaged tissue and/or by stimulating the body's own repair mechanisms to heal previously irreparable tissues or organ Cryonics - the low-temperature preservation of humans who cannot be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future Robotic surgery - use of robotic systems to aid in surgical procedures. Picture: Da Vinci surgery robot. As an example of its use, see this video Nanomedicine - the medical application of nanotechnology Oncolytic Virus - a virus that preferentially infects and kills cancer cells.[1] As the infected cancer cells are destroyed by lysis, they release new infectious virus particles to help destroy the remaining tumour.[2] Oncolytic viruses are thought not only to cause direct destruction of the tumour cells, but also to stimulate host anti-tumour immune responses.[3] Full genome sequencing - a laboratory process that determines the complete DNA sequence of an organism's genome at a single time. Because the sequence data that is produced can be quite large (for example, there are approximately six billion base pairs in each human diploid genome), genomic data is stored electronically and requires a large amount of computing power and storage capacity. Full genome sequencing would have been nearly impossible before the advent of themicroprocessor, computers, and the Information Age. This is useful as there is an association between genes and diseases. Stem cell treatments - an intervention strategy that introduces new adult stem cells into damaged tissue in order to treat disease or injury. Medical researchers anticipate that adult and embryonic stem cells will soon be able to treat cancer, Type 1 diabetes mellitus, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, Celiac disease, cardiac failure, muscle damage and neurological disorders, and many others.5 Nevertheless, before stem cell therapeutics can be applied in the clinical setting, more research is necessary to understand stem cell behavior upon transplantation as well as the mechanisms of stem cell interaction with the diseased/injured microenvironment. Virotherapy - a treatment using biotechnology to convert viruses into therapeutic agents by reprogramming viruses to treat diseases. There are three main branches of virotherapy: anti-cancer oncolytic viruses, viral vectors for gene therapy and viral immunotherapy. Biotechnology - "any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use. in many instances it is also dependent on knowledge and methods from outside the sphere of biology including: chemical engineering, bioprocess engineering, bioinformatics, a new brand of computer science, & biorobotics. See timeline of biotechnology. Category:Emerging technologies Category:XXI century